Two-piece construction, bronze gilt and enamels, engraved "FRANK. R. COLLINGE." on the reverse, 34.7 mm x 43 mm, original ribbon with brooch pinback, intact enamels, very light contact, extremely fine. Accompanied by its 3.5 mm x 17 mm enameled Ribbon Bar with button hole attachment, in its hardshelled case of issue, marked "PURPLE HEART" on the lid, scattered spotting and surface wear on the exterior, case better than fine; along with a CD containing forty-one pages of records documenting the attack and subsequent crash of the aircraft.
Footnote: Staff Sergeant Frank R. Collinge was the son of Frank Collinge of Mineola, New York. He was with 15th Air Force Group, 450th Bombardment Group, 721st Bomb Squadron, United States Army Air Force, stationed at Manduria Airfield in Italy, when his crew of eleven were ordered to the air for an attack upon a Macchi aircraft factory that produced ball bearings, located near the Swiss-Italian border, on April 25, 1944. They departed the airfield aboard a Consolidated B-24G Liberator, serial number 41-29272, nicknamed "Paper Doll". There were scattered clouds about, with the formation flying at an altitude of 21,000 feet. Thirty miles north of Ancona, the formation was intact and about to go through a cloud formation which was impossible to avoid. When they came out of the clouds, the formation reformed. Soon afterwards, an attack by Messerschmitt ME-109s ensued, with T/Sergeant Shergold noting that just before they were attacked, the crew noticed another ship going down and five crew members of that aircraft bailing out. The Liberator carrying Collinge and his crew mates caught 20 mm cannon fire from Messerschmitt ME-109s, at 1120, setting the ship afire. The bomb bay doors were stuck, due to the fact that the hydraulic system had been shot out, the bomb bay entirely engulfed in flames. The Pilot, 1st Lieutenant Hervey gave the order to "bail out" and tried to put the ship on automatic pilot. Four of the crew, including Co-Pilot 1st Lieutenant Paul, Navigator 1st Lieutenant Barthelmy, Bombardier 1st Lieutenant Kingsman and Nose Gunner T/Sergeant Shergold, escaped through the nose escape hatch, while a fifth crewman, S/Sergeant Thompson, bailed out the waist window. Right Waist Gunner S/Sergeant Collinge was wounded from the enemy fighter attacks and was last seen at his Waist Gunner position, when S/Sergeant Thompson was preparing to bail out. Interviews with the survivors noted that Tail Gunner S/Sergeant Brown was wounded or dead, that Left Waist Gunner S/Sergeant Malelik announced "I'm hit" over the interphone, that Radio Operator, T/Sergeant Stock announced over the interphone that the bomb bay doors would not open and was last seen standing near the bomb bay door lever, and that Top Turret Gunner/Engineer S/Sergeant Wernett yelled "I'm hit in the head" over the interphone. Co-Pilot 1st Lieutenant Paul noted that Wernett was tangled up in the interphone wires and possibly his oxygen line, with Paul last seeing him getting out of the gun turret and assuming he was following him to get out. The condition of S/Sergeant Brown was not stated. The plane blew up in midair with the six remaining crew still on board, going out of control, descending "tail over nose", and crashing in the mountainous area between Marradi and Pistoia. The air force reports state that three planes in all "disappeared in the clouds and were last seen over enemy territory", initially declaring them as "Missing in Action" over Varese, Italy. The five survivors, now on the ground, were unable to get together due to Fascist patrols hunting airmen. Shergold, Kingsman, Paul, Barthelmy and Thompson were still behind enemy lines, staying with partisans. Italians from the mountain village of Mirado Bi Forca untangled Kingsman from the tree he landed in and hid him before the Germans approached, at the risk of their own lives. He shared a small cabin and sparse food with a family, but when it became too dangerous to remain with the family that had taken him in, he left and joined up with Tito's partisans. By September 1944, with American and British cannon fire reigning down, he hid in a series of caves, later seeing an outfit of British Gurkhas and declaring himself to them as "Americano" and making his way back to American occupied territory. Thompson hid out with partisans and kept moving, to avoid capture by German reconnaissance, eventually making his way to Naples. Paul also evaded enemy capture. However, Barthelmy was captured and imprisoned by the Germans. He was liberated by the Russians after serving one year at Stalag Luft One. The testimony of the fifth survivor, T/Sergeant William W.J. Shergold, documents the tragic events of that day. Shergold stated that the planes encountered bad weather and were forced to break formation. Soon after breaking formation, several planes were attacked by fighters which were following them through the cloud banks. Shergold's plane was hit several times by 20 mm cannon which set the ship afire and apparently knocked out the hydraulic system. Shergold stated that the entire bomb bay was afire. Just before the pilot gave orders to bail out, Shergold stated that the Top Turret Gunner, S/Sergeant Wernett, reported that he had been hit in the head by shell fragments. Shergold bailed out and landed near the town of Marradi, Italy. On his way down, he counted a total of five chutes in the air. Soon after bailing out, Shergold stated that the plane blew up in midair and went down "tail over nose". After reaching the ground, he joined Co-pilot 1st Lieutenant Paul and Bombardier 1st Lieutenant Kingsman. No other members of the crew joined the group. 1st Lieutenant Paul said he was the last man out of the plane before it blew up, further stating that the Pilot, 1st Lieutenant Hervey, was still in his seat, that the Radio Operator, T/Sergeant Stock, was having difficulty in trying to open the bomb bay doors, and that the Engineer, S/Sergeant Wernett, was tangled up in the wires and appeared to be in a dazed condition. Co-pilot Paul stated that he told the Radio Operator (Stock) to leave the bomb bay and follow him out through the nose of the plane. Local native Italians told Shergold that the Navigator, 1st Lieutenant Barthelmy and the Ball Turret Operator, S/Sergeant Thompson, had landed a few miles away and that both had flesh wounds but were in no danger. At a later date, these natives took Shergold to a graveyard (Kiegg-Skyela) at Crispino, near Narradi in Northern Italy, where the other six members of the crew were buried, also reporting that the peasants and a priest had gone to the wrecked plane and had removed the bodies and prepared them for burial. There were no identification papers or personal items turned over to him. Three months later, the dog tags of Stock and Malelik were identified, however, they were "burnt black". The six crewmen that were Killed in Action included: 32626578 Right Waist Gunner S/Sergeant Frank R. Collinge of Nassau County, New York; 0-749233 Pilot 1st Lieutenant Abner D. Hervey of Pulaski County, Arkansas; 32378224 Radio Operator T/Sergeant Benjamin A. Stock of Oswego County, New York; 13027447 Top Turret Gunner/Engineer S/Sergeant Charles T. Wernett of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; 12203110 Left Waist Gunner S/Sergeant Stephen Malelik of Essex County, New Jersey; and 37437311 Tail Gunner S/Sergeant John O. Brown from Iowa. The fortunate five crewmen who survived the horror included: 0-747312 Co-Pilot 1st Lieutenant Leslie J. Paul of Ogden, Utah; 0-674105 Navigator 1st Lieutenant Raymond E. Barthelmy of Ashtabula, Ohio; 0-738930 Bombardier 1st Lieutenant Chester F. Kingsman of Winchester, New Hampshire; 36222185 Ball Turret Gunner S/Sergeant Tilman J. Thompson of Buxton, North Dakota; and 12005895 Nose Gunner T/Sergeant William W.J. Shergold of Saratoga County, New York. The remains of Staff Sergeant Frank R. Collinge, along with those of the other five deceased crew members, were re-interred after the war, at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Section E, Site 276, in Louisville, Kentucky. Collinge's death was announced in the Long Island Daily Press of Friday, December 15, 1944, page nine.